2000/05/16
CP2844 YYG-YHZ 1525-1605 seat 3C Dash 8-300
operated by AC as AC8844
The flight was a little late, as usual, but no problem. My travelling companion for this portion of my trip and I are so used to this leg of our trips that almost nothing fazes us (but see the final part of my report!).
CP3619 YHZ-YOW 1645-1727 seat 4F DC-9 stretch
operated by AC as AC619
We had some problems using our upgrades; as usual, we were given the runaround; the agent in the Maple Leaf Lounge kept insisting that we should've upgraded in Charlottetown; the agents in Charlottetown said we had to do it in Halifax. Being quite fed up with this, we told the MLL agent that we had been through this a dozen times and for once we refused to be told that we were in the wrong place when we knew that this was the correct one. Eventually we got our boarding passes for J class.
As a side note, I invited the Chair of the Department at the university to come to the lounge as my guest. It never hurts to have the faculty on your side, especially since I finally graduate next year (knock wood).
The flight was uneventful, the food was a light snack, and when we got to town my companion picked up the tab for a taxi to my hotel and then onward to her mother's apartment, where she usually stays when we're in Ottawa.
Best Western Victoria Park Suites
corner of O'Connor and Gladstone
I've ranted about this hotel before. This experience was no better. This time they put me in a room on the ground floor, facing the street and traffic. I asked that they switch me; the best they could do was a room on the ground floor, facing the courtyard. Since the courtyard is landscaped up from sidewalk level, I had a lovely view of grass and the occasional ankle. Oh, and for some reason the hotel does not believe in doors between the lobby and the rooms on the first floor. Needless to say, I got near zero sleep while I was there (I could hear the front desk's *phone* from my bed).
I was in town for negotiations from the 17th to the 19th, but due to the unpreparedness of the other side, we basically walked out on the 17th, asking them to call us when they were prepared to say something more than "we don't have the authority to discuss that yet". This left me with some free time, so I went souvenir shopping for the friends I was visiting Stateside. Having been given strict instructions not to get anything tacky, I immediately went out and bought a sno-globe with a polar bear inside, labelled "Ottawa, Canada". Ottawa being rather far away from polar bear country, I thought it was suitable.
Oh, where did I eat? Tuesday night I grabbed a souvlaki on Bank street. Wednesday I had continental breakfast at the hotel (except there was nowhere to sit as the room was filled with a bus tour group), sushi from Teriyaki Express on Bank Street for lunch, and went to a barbecue at a friend's for supper (in honour of an acquaintance who was soon to leave for Chicago for the International Mr. Leather contest - don't ask http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ). Thursday breakfast was in the hotel (yay, no crowds!), lunch was with a ex at the Cafe Shafala on Dalhousie St. (a wonderful Indian restaurant; I really enjoyed my lamb biryani), and supper was shish-taouk at the Lebanese fast-food place on Bank St. again.
With the negotiations suspended early, I saw no reason to hang around Ottawa more than necessary, given that many people already think I live there. I called AA about leaving on Thursday, but on my N class fare there would have been a penalty. I therefore breakfasted fast and then cabbed it out to the airport early Friday morning, having checked ITN the night before and seen that the morning flight was wide open.
Surprise! Because of weather in Chicago, all flights to/from ORD after 1pm the day before had been cancelled. I figured my chances were just about nil, but I stood in line for the longest time anyway to find out if I could get out earlier than booked. Bored, I chatted with other people in line, redirected people to the BEx line for the American Eagle codeshare to Boston, and handed out US Customs forms to everybody so that we had something to do while we waited. They should've hired me to work for them.
In any case, I got to the check-in; they were showing no seats available, but put me on standby anyway. My bags were only checked through to Chicago, as I would have to standby the rest of the way too, and I headed through.
INS was okay, although they kept me there a little longer because I was dressed in busines casual but was heading to St. Petersburg on vacation. What I found odd was that US *Customs* kept interrogating me as to why I was going to the USA. I bit my tongue to avoid remarking that INS had already gone through this with me, told them that I worked for the Canadian government, that I was taking a week's vacation between meetings, and that I wasn't a psycho terrorist bent on blowing up Papa Hemingway landmarks in vengeance for the great people of Cuba.
Finally through, I eventually got a seat for Chicago, though no upgrade was possible (at least the gate agent didn't laugh in my face). Halfway down the Jetway, I noticed that my Canadian Plus number wasn't on my boarding pass, so I backtracked and asked them to put it on my file. Luckily they had not closed the flight on the computer, so they managed to enter it.
Back on the plane, where I enjoyed my beverage and passed my pretzels to my seatmate before we touched down in Chicago.
AA2070 ORD-TPA 1840-2215 seat 8B Boeing 727-200
standby AA1486 ORD-TPA 1630-2000 seat 12E Boeing 727-200
Having collected my baggage, I headed back up to see if I could get a seat to Tampa on the 4:30 pm flight. I noticed that there was an earlier one, but realized that I would have to run to try and catch it, and my natural sloth caught up and told me to relax. I was put on the standby list and informed that the odds were quite good, although upgrading was not likely. They noticed that I had the wrong standby tags (employee class) on my bags and replaced them with the proper ones. I wasn't sure if having non-employee standby tags was better, but said nothing.
Onward to the Admirals Club lounge, where I indulged in aromatherapy in the smoking room and enjoyed a cocktail or two. I also remembered that I was supposed to book a plane ticket for 13 days in advance and had therefore missed the 14 day advance fares. Oops. I got on the phone with the travel agent and managed to get an early morning flight exactly two weeks in the future, which would barely get me to my destination in time for my meeting. *phew* I also made arrangements to go to the Thousand Islands area for that weekend rather than spending yet another weekend in Ottawa. In between was a break for a bagel sandwich at Great American Bagels. I figured it was good since it was full of AA flight crew. Not bad, although the chicken salad kept squooshing out onto my fingers.
As I was leaving the lounge to see if I got a seat or not, I noticed that somebody had abandoned two free drink coupons. *sigh*.
Onward to gate H8. I have always been lucky in ORD in that whenever I have to standby for a flight the gate is always within steps of the Admirals Club. While waiting for my seat I listened to a woman harangue the gate agent. Apparently she and her family had seats spread apart on the flight and she asked that they be seated together. The gate agent naturally did the best they could and got them all in the same row. The woman then started complaining that she had lost her precious aisle seat and she wanted it back, then and there. Of course, the seat had already been reassigned, this being a full flight. Apparently, gate agents are supposed to be psychic and should've known exactly what order the various priorities fell in for this woman, despite the fact that she didn't mention any of them.
I turned to the people next to me and said I'd be glad to have her middle seat, as long as I could get to Tampa. Other people were shaking their heads in disgust (and in sympathy for the woman's husband and child).
Eventually I was called up and given my coach seat (first was full). I told the gate agent that I had watched the unfortunate scene and that if the woman filed a complaint, I was willing to speak on the gate agent's behalf. I also gave her one of the three half-bottles of Champagne I had picked up in Ottawa to reward her for her patience with that passenger, along with my card in case she needed to contact me.
The flight was uneventful. On arrival I grabbed a cab to St. Petersburg. Big mistake; the driver couldn't help me with my bags, and was half blind, forgetful, and completely unfamiliar with St. Petersburg. I was headed to the south side of the city, so the driver got off the freeway on the north side. Then I had to read every single street sign for him, since he didn't know where he was. And he kept slowing down at every intersection, until I reminded him that the place I was going was on the other side of town. Total cab fare: $45. Oy veh.
I finally arrived at the Suncoast Resort, 3400 30th S. and checked into my $49 room. I asked about changing to a suite, but none were available that weekend. The rest of the weekend is a blur; I met a lot of nice people, got sunburned because I forgot to put sunblock on my shoulders, lounged around the pool, did some shopping (note to file: never, ever try on a thong swimsuit again - unless I lose about half my body mass), and had the chambermaid try to set me up on a date with her boss by calling him to my room and pretending that my sink was out of order.
It was a fun weekend; I only managed to leave the resort twice. On Saturday I went to buy beer, water, iced tea, cigarettes, and a cooler at the grocery store nearby; apparently St. Petersburg is too far South to be in the South and therefore, nowhere on the resort could I get a glass of "sweet tea". Sunday night I was desperately craving junk food (it didn't help that the resort's restaurants closed at 10pm on Sundays) and headed out to the closest Denny's.
I still can't believe that I was in Florida for the first time and never made it to the beach. Next time I'm going to rent a car so that I can come and go more easily (including late-night runs to Denny's).
islandcub
May 31, 00, 2:58 pm
Part 3: All these national capitals look the same...
2000/05/22
AA331 TPA-MIA 1456-1603 seat 3A Boeing 727-200
Ick, Monday morning. I checked out right at 11 am, said goodbye to the hotel (and to the guy my chambermaid had tried to set me up with) and hopped into my pre-booked taxi to Tampa airport. $25, much more reasonable. After checking in (and getting my upgrade to first class) I decided to poke around the airport. I quickly found the smoking lounges, the food courts, the magazine/newsstands that had nothing I hadn't already read, the tourist shops, and the toy store, where I considered buying a Holmann sphere (or however it's spelled) but decided that that was an extra piece of baggage I didn't need.
Eventually I boarded the shuttle train to the pod where my gate was located and got on the brief flight to Miami, enjoying a glass of California merlot on the way.
AA1664 MIA-DCA 17:55-20:27 seat 4A Boeing 727-200
I thought I dealt well with airports, but Miami International's sheer size and the number of people there confuses the heck outta me. Eventually I found my way to the elevator to the Admirals Club lounge, where I sat at the bar and enjoyed a glass of sparkling wine and watched the next guy over drink shot after shot of whiskey. Eventually he poured himself out towards the door; the bartender told me he'd been there since the morning and was on his way to Bogota.
I got my upgrade to Reagan National airport and boarded my flight. Had a wonderful trip, except for the guy next to me, who was a classic type-A personality: work work work and everything better match my needs or else! He ordered the low-calorie option for the in-flight meal (full meal in F, snack in Y), but when he saw that his first course was a vegetable tray instead of the shrimp cocktail I had, he got upset. When the main course was brought (filet for me, somthing else for him) he grumbled and told the FA to cancel his meal. I guess shrimp cocktail must be allowed on his diet.
In any case, I enjoyed my meal tremendously, which was a good thing since our flight left and arrived late, and the welcoming committee who met me at the airport had gotten bored and eaten airport food (Thai chicken pizza? airport sushi? uh-oh).
The caravan (me, Trygve - who was getting ready to move to Waco TX - and Randy in one car; John and Jackson - who was visiting from New Joisey - in another) headed to Randy's place in Falls Church VA, where I was invited to stay. We headed there as quickly as possible, since the sumptuous banquet they ate was affecting Trygve in unfortunate ways. My friends pointed out highlights of the area, such as the Arlington Veterans' Cemetary, as we sped towards Falls Church.
We enjoyed a glass of Virginia Cabernet Sauvignon before the other guests went their ways and I crashed on the couch.
On Tuesday morning I realized that despite Randy's kindness in inviting me to be his guest, I was going to be a disruption of his household's patterns, so I offered to get a room in Washington, which would actually be a convenient meeting place since John and Jackson were in Maryland. I managed to snag a room at the Brenton, a bed and breakfast at 1704 16th NW, for $79/night, which I thought was very reasonable for the Dupont Circle area. I cabbed it in and found the place to be a nicely decorated Victorian home. My room was quite sizeable for such a building, and I was quite happy.
I called John and Jackson (free local calls, woo hoo!) and they came in from Maryland to meet me for lunch. By now I was running out of clean clothes, so we dropped my laundry off at a wash'n'fold and then went to Sushi Taro (17th between P&Q NW) where I had the fried seafood platter, John the sashimi combination, and Jackson the teriyaki beef. We split the red bean ice cream (no green tea ice cream today - sigh) and fought over the cheque. I won, and graciously allowed them to leave the tip.
We explored part of the city, taking Metro to from Dupont Circle to the Smithsonian and going up the mall to check out the Washington Monument (still closed), the Lincoln Memorial (very crowded and noisy, and there was still lots of scaffolding inside), the reflecting pool (lots of ducks and geese), and the Vietnam War Memorial (lots of bus tours). We walked over to Arlington and then caught the subway back over to Washington to the L'Enfant Plaza stop, which turned out to be not convenient at all to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. But we got there and spent several hours on the self-guided tour (luckily, there were tickets available).
I lost track of my friends while I was there and by the end of the tour I was rather overcome, so I left and tried to get in touch with them via cell phone. No luck, but I knew they wanted to go home to have supper, so I Metro'ed it back to the hotel, picking up my laundry on the way.
I got in touch with them as they were headed back and made arrangements to get back together to go check out DC nightlife. I had dinner at an Italian restaurant at the corner of 17th and R St. NW (scallops with spinach tortellini and marinara sauce). We got back together and checked out the various bars on P Street, which ranged from the odd to the odder. Bad drag queens (hair by Moulinex), people staring entranced at the screen in video bars, one place that smelled like somebody had been very ill.
We wound up at the Badlands. For some reason, I have never been in a bar called the Badlands that was a country bar, which one would think the name implies. It was a disco palace. I shrugged, had another bourbon and Coke, and went dancing. When my friends wanted to leave for the night (the bar had stopped serving) I was dancing on an elevated platform in the middle of the dance floor.
Wednesday morning Jackson had to head back to Joisey and his job. I had oatmeal and fruit and tea at the B&B, and then John and Randy came into town to spend the day with me, which we spent eating at a Mexican restaurant on 17th near Q St. I had the paella and my friends had various Mexican combination plates. Then we headed to Dupont Circle to people watch. John had to get back home to finish redoing his resume (his previous job disappeared when his boss got arrested), so Randy and I went shopping. I found a bottle of Veuve Clicquot White Label for $37, which I thought reasonable since the Yellow Label was $39. I also bought souvenirs for friends, and poked through a bunch of other stores. Eventually Randy headed home and I took a little nap, as I was exhausted.
That night I went out to the DC Eagle, which was okay if a little slow for a Wednesday. The bartender bought me a beer. I eventually cabbed it back to the hotel from the corner after chatting with the ladies whose, uh, turf I was invading.
Thursday was another oatmeal breakfast day, followed by some more serious shopping. I wound up buying another bag at a leather shop on Connecticut Ave. near 18th NW to carry the stuff I was buying. Lunch was at another Italian restaurant on 17th NW, this time near P St. John had gotten the job he had interviewed for that morning, so he came back into town and we celebrated by going to Sheridan's Steakhouse and Bar. The food was great, though I ate too much of it (pan-fried oysters with tomatillo sauce, buffalo strip loin marinated in stout, dense-as-a-black-hole pecan-chocolate-bourbon pie). We wandered downstairs to the bar, which was country, and then moseyed on over to Remington's, another country bar. I was having a great time so when John left to catch the last train home, I stayed. And had way too many bourbons with beer chasers. Luckily I managed to cab it back to the Brenton to try to sleep some of it off, despite my early flight the next day. Ugh.
islandcub
May 31, 00, 3:29 pm
Part 4: The Essence of a Woman
2000/05/26
CP3553 DCA-YYZ 915-1039 seat 7D Canadair RJ
AC operated as AC553
Morning. Ugh. I scrambled to finish packing and checked out. The front desk clerk called a taxi for me, which arrived promptly, and I boogied to get to the check-in desk at the airport. The flight was, of course, delayed. *sigh*. I was invited to use United's Red Carpet Club, which was nice. I went and checked my voice-mail and had a little breakfast while waiting for the plane to arrive. When I saw it arrive at the gate, I headed back downstairs.
On boarding the flight, the flight attendant refused to let me on unless I sky-checked my carry-on, which contained my laptop computer as well as that bottle of champagne. The fact that the case was legal as carry-on *and* fits perfectly well under the seat in front of me didn't matter in the slightest, so I wound up madly unpacking the laptop, the wine, and my medication and carrying it all in my arms onto the plane.
Once on board I realized that my documents (plane tickets, passport, etc) were still in the case, and I hoped that the bag didn't get lost or something between my getting on and my getting off the plane (as has happened in the past). Good thing I worried, because when we got to Toronto and I got my bag back, all the outside pockets were open. Luckily everything was still inside them.
(Why do I have to go through this whenever I fly on a CRJ? Good heavens, it's a bigger plane than a Dash-8 and I never go through this then. I think it's time to call Air Canada and ask them what the heck is going on.)
In Toronto they were very slow returning the skycheck baggage, so by the time I got to Immigration and Customs the line was fairly large. Nevertheless, I got through and rechecked my bags for Ottawa.
CP3450 YYZ-YOW 1200-1300 seat 19D Airbus 320
AC operated as AC450
I couldn't upgrade because of the fare class, but the gate agent told me the plane was half empty and I could just spread out, which I did. On arrival I grabbed my bags which were priority tagged and hopped in a cab to my hotel. This took forever, as the two closest bridges across the Ottawa River were both under construction; I watched $4 click off as we sat there waiting for the flagger to let us go on the single lane on the bridge we were on.
Chateau Cartier, Aylmer QC
This is a lovely hotel. Unfortunately there was no room available for me yet, so I left my bags with the bellman and headed to my meeting. After the meeting, I officially checked in, which was a problem because the hotel computer system was down. I quickly checked in, showered, hung stuff in the closet and tossed stuff in the drawers, and dressed for a business-ish (i.e. business social) dinner.
Dinner was buffet style and was all right, although there was a disturbing lack of chocolate during dessert, and the waitress got very confused when we asked what ports were available to order with dessert and cheese.
When I finally got back to my suite, the first thing I noticed was that one of the lightbulbs in the bedroom was burnt out. I called to have this changed and it took over an hour for somebody to come. *Then * I noticed the smell. Apparently the previous occupant of the room didn't bathe frequently and compensated by drowning herself and her surroundings in perfume. The bedspread smelled faintly of perfume. The couch smelled faintly of perfume. The pillow smelled faintly of perfume. The dresser drawers and the closet smelled strongly of perfume, enough that the clothes I had put there hours before were saturated.
When the bellman came with a new lightbulb, I asked if the hotel was full. He said it was (there was a prom that night, and weddings all weekend, etc.) I gave up, opened the window wide, turned up the heat, stripped the bedspread off the bed, and slept the best I could.
The next day I missed breakfast but had lunch, which was good, since the chocolate quotient had improved. Work was fine; when I went up to my room the perfume situation was no better. I headed out of the hotel, mentioning to the front desk that housekeeping was slipping, since I can't believe they didn't notice the smell when they changed the sheets and whatnot. Supper was back in Ottawa, in Chinatown, and then I went to my favourite bar for some relaxation.
Sunday morning when I checked out I asked to speak to the manager. I told them that the room should have been thoroughly aired out, and not been placed in the inventory. They asked me why I didn't ask to change rooms, and I said because I had already been told that they were full, and it was late at night when the problem first became apparent, and I was busy working the next day, thank you. They said they'd look into it, since they agreed the room should never have been rented out, and removed all my phone calls from my bill.
Other than that, the stay was all right, but the hotel is too far out of the way for my taste, and I doubt I'll stay there again, unless meetings require it.
islandcub
May 31, 00, 3:48 pm
Part 5: Hail to the bus driver, bus driver man!
2000/05/28
CP2886 YOW-YHZ 1320-1600 seat 3A BAe 146-200
AC operated as AC8886
A friend gave me a lift to the airport, and I checked in (got the upgrade!) and headed to the lounge for soup and beverage. The flight was delayed to about 2:50 pm, but I wasn't worried about my connection, although other people wound up missing theirs. On boarding (no nonsense about carry-ons, either) I settled into my seat and started reading the books and newspapers and magazines I tend to save up for my regular back-and-forth flights. The food was a half sandwich of ham and cheese, a half sandwich of lettuce and tomato, and a fruit cup.
On arrival I headed to the Maple Leaf Lounge for some more soup - I managed to get the last bowl before the staff took the pot away and told everybody else there was no more.
CP2847 YHZ-YYG 1700-1740 seat 7C Dash 8-300
AC operated as AC8847
Well, we left on time. I napped on the flight; when I woke up we were headed back to Halifax. Apparently there was fog on the runway and after a single attempt to land, the pilot decided to head back to Halifax. Once there, while waiting to find out what would happen to us, I found out that the cockpit wasn't able to make any contact with the tower in Charlottetown and so didn't dare try an instrument landing. Also, the crew was at the end of their regulation day, so we would not be making a second attempt, since they couldn't find a replacement crew. We stood around the airport for a long time trying to get news. They were trying to rent a bus, but were having problems, and were also having problems getting any hotel rooms in Halifax. Meanwhile the next (and last) scheduled flight was already full. It would go, and it if couldn't land it would be diverted to Moncton, where they would try to rent a bus there for those passengers.
It looked like they weren't going to get a bus, so some people asked about taxis to Charlottetown, which the airline refused to pay for, although if people did it themselves and then applied for reimbursement, Air Canada would refund the portion of the airfare from Halifax to Charlottetown (about $300 of the $700 full fare Ottawa-Charlottetown). Some people decide to do that, but those of us who were not in a position to do so sat around.
Also, there was a Japanese couple on honeymoon who spoke no English who had no idea what was going on. Air Canada refused to do anything to help (in fact, they laughed in my face when I asked them if there was something they could do to let this couple know what was going on) so I wound up paying for long distance calls to Charlottetown to locate somebody who could translate.
Eventually, they located a bus and were trying to find a driver. A driver was found! We were to meet downstairs at 10:15pm to get on the bus and were send downstairs to get our luggage from the carousel. By the time we got downstairs, every restaurant was closed. One woman who elected to stay in a hotel overnight was given a voucher for transportation, except the bus she was directed to didn't go anywhere near the hotel she was given a voucher for, so she gave up and came back to the airport.
The bus arrived around 10:45pm and we all got on (by now the Japanese couple had managed to get in touch with the tour company that had arranged their honeymoon, and a local representative who spoke Japanese came out to the airport). Off we went!
We got to the outskirts of Charlottetown around 2am. The driver offered to drop us off at the various hotels, but didn't know where they were, so I offered to direct him. First we went to the airport, where there was a single taxi, so many people stayed on the bus. Then we threaded our way through town to the various hotels. I hopped out across the street from my building and went in to crash.
Oh, yeah, supper (besides the bowl of soup) was a chocolate bar from the airport vending machines.